Kinkead Ridge Vineyard and Estate Winery Weblog

Dancing in the Dark

So why is a car poking its nose into the winery with the headlights on? See the 1000 gallon tank in the photo? We were in the middle of bottling the last 200 cases of the 2006 red Revelation (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) when... THE POWER FAILED! This means no pump, no lights, no bottle filler, no capsule machine, no corker.

We have had totally extreme rain and winds over the last two days. The headlights enabled us to close out the bottling run.

If this had happened half an hour earlier, we would have dumped 25 gallons of wine down the drain. As it was, only about an inch of wine was left in the tank. Good thing we started at 8 a.m. and took a short lunch.

The bottle filler and hoses were cleaned on the crush pad by our cellarmaster, Judy, in rain that was driving horizontally across the property, amid thunder and lightning and cicadas (yes, it's that 17 year cycle) dropping to the ground from the trees.

Just another adventure in Kinkead Ridge-land! A mini-movie of the saga will be on www.youtube.com next week.

Your friendly blog mistress,
Nancy Bentley

Bottle Shock

As regular readers of this blog may know, the 2007 Easter frost took out over 90% of the white wine. It was a "bottle shock" however to see how little white wine there is after it was bottled last week; a scant 34 cases of Riesling (184 cases last year) and 48 cases of white Revelation (125 cases last year) and 0 cases of Viognier/Roussanne (303 cases last year). The 2007 white Revelation is predominantly Roussanne, blended with the small quantity of the other white vinifera we could salvage. This wine could sell out Memorial Day weekend; we may have to put a limit on the number of bottles available for purchase, depending on the crowd.

Yesterday, we bottled the 2006 River Village Cellars Syrah, and I have to say that at its price point of $11.95, it's pretty darn tasty! Better than I expected... as usual, Ron made some good decisions during the winemaking process.

A crew of five bottled about 180 cases, it took from 8.30 a.m. to about 4.30 p.m. Here are some of the cases stacked and resting upright, prior to being flipped 180 degrees and stacked on the pallet.

This week's Wall Street Journal had a great article about Tips for Tasting Rooms ... one of their suggestions is to treat your tasting room staff well, and coincidentally, we bought tickets for our core group to attend the Fleur de Fetes wine festival in Dayton. Then Monday and Tuesday, it's two more days of bottling, the 2006 River Village Cellars Cabernet Franc.

Your friendly blogger,
Nancy Bentley, Owner and Managing Partner

It's Moving Day

It's Moving Day! Not us... the 2006 red wine. All the 2006 red wine in barrel since last October is being transferred to tanks for cold stabilization and blending. So barrel racks and barrels are being moved around with the forklift, barrels are being raised and lowered for racking, wine is being pumped into tanks, water is being pumped into barrels for cleaning. This is approximately 700 cases of red wine, so Ron and two people are in motion during this final prep phase before bottling in May.

Spring has sprung here in southern Ohio... the redbud trees are blooming on the hills, the lilacs are blooming at the vineyard. Redbud flowers are safe to make into jelly, which I am doing today. This is a photo of preparing the infusion from the blossoms. Next year I think I will make a redbud dessert wine in 375ml bottles!
After the frost of April 2007, which decimated our white wine production for this year (fewer than 100 cases instead of 600+), we feel for the geographical areas that are currently undergoing devastating weather as we did last year. North Carolina, Napa and Pacific Northwest vineyards have all suffered damaging frosts.

Because we have so little white wine to release, it may sell out on Memorial Day weekend; therefore the winery will be closed this summer until Labor Day, when we'll release the 2006 red wines.

Other items are also in transit; our capsules arrived at the winery today, corks are on the way, bottles came last week, and grapevines are arriving every other day for replants and an expansion of the vineyard to more Petit Verdot. It's a very busy time of year.

Your friendly blogger
Nancy Bentley, Owner and Managing Partner

Boulevard de la Madeleine... Nancy in Paris

On my recent trip to Paris and London (first REAL vacation in 8 years!) I was eager to visit the Boulevard de la Madeleine, the scene of the famous "Caves de la Madeleine", which was owned by Steven Spurrier, who attended the famous Judgment of Paris in 1976; a blind tasting where French judges shocked the industry by choosing unknown California wines over France's best.

The book "Judgement of Paris" by George M. Taber is a great read and says this: "At 3-5 Boulevard de la Madeleine in the heart of the right bank in Paris, and only a few hundred yards from where Steven Spurrier's Caves de la Madeleine used to be located, is Lavinia. In the jargon of the American retail trade, it is a category-killer store like Home Depot or Toys R Us, a place that stocks an exhaustive offering of products in the store's particular field and thus dominates that market niche. Lavinia has everything to do with wine."

There are 15 sommeliers on staff. The tiny North American section included a wine from Patrick McManis. I brought a bottle of our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon with me specifically to stand in front of this address, and invite the staff to taste the wine. Only one of the sommeliers spoke English, and despite that and my fairly good French, the lack of interest was stunning. They had no knowledge of this famous event, and absolutely no curiosity about a wine from America, and a Cabernet from Ohio! We took it back to London and enjoyed it in our rented flat!

In the vineyard, pruning is finished, and Gretchen and Judy are pulling the brush and beginning to train the two bearing canes onto the trellis.

Your friendly blog queen,
Nancy Bentley

Decisions, decisions...

It's the time of year to start thinking about wine labels and packaging. Some of you may know we have a second label, called River Village Cellars, for what we call "everyday" rather than ultra-premium wines. So this afternoon, Ron and I sat down with the reds from 2006. We always need to decide whether a wine is first or second label, and whether it's blended or not. 2006 was a difficult vintage, rainy and cold. The decisions this year are:

1. Syrah on its own, 2nd label; or Syrah blended with Cab Franc; 2nd label.
2. Cabernet Sauvignon 100% or Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot
3. Petit Verdot on its own or not
4. Cabernet Franc 100% or Cabernet Franc blended with Cabernet Sauvignon.

Here's what the tasting table looked like...

These are our first and second labels:

It's also the time of year we can get out of Dodge; we joined the winemaker of LaVigna for a visit to the Unified Symposium winery trade show in Sacramento; and then spent several days in Arizona and New Mexico. We tasted some really nice Riesling there! The scenery was glorious. We had lunch with Dick Erath (Erath Winery) and were happy to run into Mike and Jackie Etzel (Beaux Freres).

We were considering those glass stoppers in lieu of corks; one person at the show told us that to stop these from pushing the capsule off in certain situations, a dab of glue needs to be added to the bottle to keep the capsule in place. That's the last thing we need, is someone with a glue gun and another process on our little bottling line!

What Do We Do in the Winter?

Ron is at the winery, filtering white wine. In between reading the "Judgment of Paris" about the 1976 wine competition in which American wines bested their French equivalents in a blind competition, (highly recommended), I am generating the end of year paperwork. Here's the list:

Federal:
W-2s for 20 part-time employees of the vineyard and winery. I have to fill these out twice, because the carbons aren't efficient enough to go through to the 4th, 5th and 6th copies.
W-3s, summary of W-2s
941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return
TTB F 5000.24 Federal Excise Tax Return
TTB F 5120.17 Report of Wine Premises Operation

Ohio:
UST-1, Sales Tax report Ohio 4th Quarter
IT-3, Ohio Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements
Workmans' Comp, July-December
IT-941, Ohio Annual Reconciliation of Income Tax Withheld
IT-501, Ohio Quarterly Withholding
SD-141, School District Employer's Annual Reconciliation of Tax Withheld
SD-101, Employer's Payment of School District Income Tax Withheld
State of Ohio Excise Tax by gallonage (which had to be computed by going back and looking at all bottle sales for the year)
I love the Wall Street Journal ads by the state of Ohio trying to encourage small business to come here (she wrote sarcastically)

Ripley:
W1 1135 9977, Quarterly Withholding, Village of Ripley
Ripley Annual Reconciliation of Income Tax Withheld

And now, for each upcoming wine release,  it's time to generate:
OMB 1513-0020 Application for and Certification/Exemption of Label/Bottle Approval for each new label
Similar form for Ohio for label approval

ARE YOU GLAZED OVER YET?

On a positive note, another new vineyard/winery that we have mentored will be opening this year. See http://www.renascentvineyards.com for details. They are located in Georgetown, Ohio.

Your friendly webmistress, blog queen and form handler
Nancy Bentley

Kinkead Ridge Winery Celebrates Fifth Anniversary and Famous Whisky Fruitcake Dessert Recipe

The last post of 2007! The vineyard was planted in 1999; the winery was established in Ripley in 2002; and we just celebrated the winery's fifth anniversary. So, it was time to make another vineyard cake... this time Marshmallow the cat is on the left side of the "trellis" and Ron's on the right side. My very favorite Christmas whisky fruitcake recipe is after the list of accomplishments below.

It took some time to contemplate these accomplishments in the last five years. It's a pretty amazing list for a young vineyard! We have been very fortunate to receive international and national press coverage, and some big medals in competition.

• 2003 Viognier/Roussanne named one of the Top 100 Exciting Wines in the World, Tom Stevenson, British editor of the New Sothebys Wine Encyclopedia
• 2004 Cabernet Franc, same list. Only 11 other American wineries made this list in the 2008 Wine Report
• 2004 Cabernet Franc, Double Gold Medal, American Wine Society competition. 1000+ international entries, only 2 Double Gold Medals for vinifera.
• 2006 Viognier/Roussanne, Gold Medal, American Wine Society competition
• 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Gold Medal, Finger Lakes Wine competition. The only vinifera wine from Ohio to win a gold medal. Only 15 medals were awarded to the field for Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2005 Petit Verdot named 2007 Wine of the Year by Ann Boucher, Serendipity, Columbus
• Featured on nationally-syndicated PBS TV program, America's Heartland
• Featured on Ohio-syndicated PBS TV program, Our Ohio
• My video "The Romance of the Vineyard" one of five finalists in the Wine Spectator video contest
• Cover feature, Ohio magazine
• Cover feature, Our Ohio (Farm Bureau) magazine
• Listed in Kevin Zraly's American Wine Guide (former sommelier of Windows on the World, World Trade Center)
• Mentored local winegrowers in Ohio and Kentucky, including Harmony Hill, Meranda and LaVigna
• Featured on the Dish TV show with Chef Jean Robert de Caval
• Featured in Ladies Home Journal and Country Living (ad courtesy of the Farm Bureau)
• 2006 Viognier/Roussanne rated one of the top 2007 favorite wines of the Cleveland-based WineBuzz magazine
• Featured in Ohio Wine Country Excursions and Fodors Guide to Ohio
• Featured in From Garden Gate to Dinner Plate, Food and Farms of Ohio
• Featured in national wine publications Wines and Vines and Vineyard and Winery Management
• Reviewed by Mark Fisher, Dayton Wine Blog
• Reviewed by Jon Christenson, Columbus Dispatch
• 2005 Cabernet Franc currently poured at Pigalls and JeanRo Bistro
• 2006 Viognier/Roussanne and 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon poured at Nectar Restaurant, Chef Julie Francis
• Ohio wine dinners, Kinkead Ridge has been featured at Rhapsody, Sturkeys, Daveeds, Bexleys Monk, Lindeys German Village, Iron Horse Inn, Chins Ginger Grill, Cuvee
• Wines reviewed by Lenn Thompson, New York wine writer
• Wines reviewed by Sandra Silfven, Detroit Daily News
• Newspaper articles and features, too numerous to itemize
• Wine poured at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. and by Senator Voinovich
• Invited to pour at Gourmet Sensation
• Invited to pour at Fleur de Fetes, Dayton
• One of four wineries featured in Cincinnati Magazine, January 2008
• Featured in Taste Cincinnati
• 2004 Viognier/Roussanne bested a Chateauneuf du Pape in the first Ohio wine challenge, which pitted Ohio wines against European and California wines. Only 3 of 10 wineries bested their competition.
• Wines rated over 90 by Andrew Jones, British Wine Writer
• Wholesale wine store and restaurant accounts expanded from 15 in the Cincinnati area in 2001 to over 100 all over the state
• Many many times told: "We can't believe these wines are from Ohio!"

In summary: "Why go for those long distance relationships when you can find love in your own back yard!"

Well, if you made it through that list, thank you. Here's a favorite cake recipe of mine for the holidays:

WORLD FAMOUS CHRISTMAS FRUIT CAKE

INGREDIENTS
1 cup water, 2 cups dried fruit, 1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 8 oz. mixed nuts
4 large eggs, 1 tsp. baking soda, juice of 1 lemon
1 bottle whiskey

METHOD:
Sample the whiskey to check for quality.

Take a large bowl. Check the whiskey again. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

Add 1 tsp. sugar and beat again.

Make sure the whiskey is still OK. Cry another tup.

Turn off the mixerer. Break two eggs and add to the bowl and check in the dried fruit.

Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, prise it loose with a drewscriver.

Sample the whiskey to check for tonsisticity.

Next sift two cups of salt. Or something. Who cares?

Check the whiskey.

Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something. Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees.

Don't forget to beat off the turner. Throw the bowl out of the window, check the whiskey again and go to bed. Good luck with this.

_____

But wait... there's more! I took a few minutes over a glass (or two or three) of wine to write a "Twas the Night Before Christmas" poem, and here it is. Thank you to everyone who has supported us, enjoyed our wine, and told their friends!

Twas the night before Christmas, overlooking the vineyard
Ronald and Nancy turned their thoughts inward
The vineyard was planted eight years ago
The wines show the promise they dreamed would be so.

The vintages stacked in the winery with care
In hopes more gold medals soon will be there
When out on the lawn, there arose such a clatter
We just had to wonder, well what is the matter?

Away to the window, we flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave lustre of mid-day to objects below
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear
A 15 point buck and eight little deer

Happily, this time of year they can't damage
The grapes or the vines or the garden we manage
The finches are happy to see the bird feeders
The cardinals frolic among the red cedars

Our cats are all nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of tuna fish dance in their heads
While visions of sugarplums cut it for most
A new French oak barrel please, medium toast!

So we happily toasted a wonderful year
With Cabernet Sauvignon, always good cheer
To friends old and new, and those yet to come,
Happy Christmas to all... now this poem is done!

 

Ron expands the vineyard; how do the posts get in the ground anyway? And... the mouse that roared.

Ron ripped out the fence at the front of the vineyard, and has plans to expand the front section. After a day with the transit, and little bamboo stakes, the post pounder went to work. It's a noisy job. See the video below.

An editor at the Wine Spectator is upset with me about my comments on Mark Fisher's blog, with regard to their ignoring wines from non-coast wineries. I received some email from this editor that I would consider hostile.  This editor should be more upset about the other, much more inflammatory comments, besides mine, on the blog.

We probably never will be able to send wine to the Spectator and expect a fair review. This editor pretty much implied they wish they had known that the finalist video was from us. It may never have seen the light of day if we had put our name on it. I am grateful for the tasting experience; and want to particularly recognize Gloria Frazee of the Wine Spectator, who has been gracious and professional throughout the video contest process. I suppose I'm the mouse that roared.

The winning video was "A Toast to the Little People", Hocus Pocus winery in California. I guess I would have to say... some little people get respect... not all little people; and being from the midwest is an uphill battle as far as the Wine Spectator goes, despite our successful history of growing Pinot Noir in Oregon for over 10 years. This editor actually said: "If a wine is only available at the winery, or is made in tiny quantities, then it doesn't make sense to give it space in a national magazine." And yet, I've seen wineries with 300+ cases of a wine receive a prominent feature.

My response to this was: "I think the Wine Spectator should be interested in what is happening in the wine world beyond where a wine is sold. We have renaissanced this area, several other wineries have started up, and two of our wines have made Tom Stevenson's Top 100 Exciting Wines in the World list; our 2003 Viognier/Roussanne, and our 2004 Cabernet Franc. Our 2004 Cab Franc was one of only two Double Gold medals at AWS last year. Don't you think your readers who migrated to California from other states like Ohio would be interested in what is happening? And that would go for any non-coast state."

Your friendly web mistress and blog queen
Nancy Bentley

Ron expands the vineyard...

The 2005 Petit Verdot has not yet been released; it will be available November 24. The demand for this varietally bottled wine has been so high that Ron has decided to expand the front of the vineyard and plant more of it. A tedious day was spent ripping out posts and fence wire... much to the deer's delight, they can now wander at will in the vineyard. Today we used the transit to set the new fence line. These little bamboo stakes will be replaced with large posts in a day or so.... and of course I will be making another mini-movie for Youtube!

Your friendly web mistress,
Nancy Bentley

Nancy's New York Groove

As a finalist in the Wine Spectator video contest, we won tickets to the New York Wine Experience Grand Tasting, held in the Marriott Marquis hotel on Times Square... an opportunity to taste 250 wines, all rated 90 or above by the Spectator. The first wine I tasted was a 2002 Marques de Grinon, 100% Petit Verdot, retail $40, an interesting comparison to our upcoming $20 2005 Petit Verdot. I ended with some amazing Ausleses, and there was also a group of fantastic vintage Champagnes. The winners of the contest, Amy and Peter, producers of Hocus Pocus Syrah, had a similar scenario to Ron and myself; her Peter and my Ron were overwhelmed with crush and could not attend. So Amy and I toured the floor together.
I came home to find Ron poring over a piece of graph paper, with plans to expand the front of the vineyard!

Here's a little video I made of that dark and stormy outside, but glittery inside, evening. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

kinkead ridge

Ron's World. The Brutality of Punchdowns

How would you like to get up at 3 a.m. in the morning, drive 3 miles to the winery to punchdown, for more than two weeks. That's Ron's world. Punchdowns at 9 a.m./3 p.m./9 p.m. and 3 a.m. It's brutal but necessary.

Here's a 3 p.m. punchdown, filmed by three engineers from GE who visited today; they had some very good questions.

I'm still waiting to see if Ron can make it to New York for our prize for being a finalist in the Wine Spectator video contest: two tickets to the Grand Tasting at the New York Wine Experience, Wine Spectator. If he can't make it, I'm hanging out with Amy! Her video, about Hocus Pocus, their friends,  and their syrah, won the grand prize!

The weather is glorious. It's as good as it gets in Ohio. The trees are turning color, and it looks like a Vermont fall. Puffy clouds, warm days, cool nights.

 

Your friendly wine blogger
Nancy Bentley, Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge

The Picking Spreadsheet... and Stem Mayhem

Yesterday we picked over 8,000 pounds of Cabernet Sauvignon. Many techniques are used to pay the pickers; in Oregon each picker takes off his or her hat, and a "ticket" gets punched, one per bucket. We pay by the pound, so each bin is weighed by me and recorded. Here's what the picking sheet looks like. The blue stains are Cabernet Sauvignon juice!

After the pick, the fruit was crushed. Here's Ron imitating Lucy Ricardo in the stomping department...  this video shows the tedious process of hand-picking stems from the fruit, and what happens to the stems.

Your friendly blogging queen
Nancy Bentley
Owner/Managing Partner

kinkead ridge

The "Bin of Shame" becomes the "Joy of Jelly"... and Cabernet Franc comes in at 25.6 Brix

Readers of this blog know about the "bin of shame"; the 40 pounds of Cabernet Sauvignon that was mistakenly picked with the Cabernet Franc. Happily, this came into my possession, and today I made Cabernet Sauvignon jelly, and it is awesome! The worst part was de-stemming the fruit by hand. Here we are bubbling away, and the final product. These jars are given away at holiday time, and if you happen to come in the winery and it's your birthday or anniversary, you get one too! (while they last).

2007 CABERNET FRANC comes in at 25.6 Brix!

Although we don't like high alcohol wines, we have to work with what Mother Nature gives us. Ron mentioned similarities to a Calistoga vintage. Still to pick... Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.

Your friendly web mistress and blogging queen,
Nancy Bentley

kinkead ridge

Kinkead Ridge and Harmony Hill Square Dance For You!

This JibJab site is waaayyyy cool!

A Magical Twilight

 A charming surprise! Tonight a hot air balloon flew right over the vineyard! They dropped down as I waved to holler: "What road is this!" Here's a picture, and the reaction of Marshmallow the vineyard cat!

The "Bin of Shame"

What exactly is the "Bin of Shame"? It's a $180 mistake! Yesterday, during the Cabernet Franc pick, one of the pickers drifted into a row of unripe Cabernet Sauvignon, despite the note clothes-pinned to the end of the row that said "Do Not Pick". So about 40 pounds of grapes (that might be about 10 bottles of wine at $18 apiece) will now be made by me into Cabernet Sauvignon jelly! Ron was not pleased, but I'm sure the jelly will be delicious. The Cabernet Sauvignon is about one-and-a-half weeks away from harvest.

We had the pleasure of photographers on the hill both Monday and Tuesday of this week; John Johnstone, a professional photographer from Dayton was here at the crack of dawn for the sunrise shot and pictures of the Franc harvest. You can see the photos on John's website, click on Index and then Wine Harvest. The second shoot was for the Cincinnati Enquirer, a story about the fifth anniversary of the winery. Highlight of the Enquirer's lunch was the famous "Marshmallow Coke" at Rockin' Robins Soda Shop, a Ripley tradition since the 1960s.

The Cabernet Franc fruit is gorgeous. 5852 pounds, around 200 bins.

Michael of the Enquirer took digital photos of the Cabernet Franc crush. My latest mini-movie is a 360 degree circle around the stemmer/crusher.

Kinkead Ridge is one of five finalists in the First Annual Wine Spectator Video Contest

How does it feel to be on the home page of the most visited wine web site on the Internet! Pretty darn thrilling! When I clicked on the link this morning and saw our picture, time stood still for a moment! Five finalists were chosen and the videos may be viewed over the next few days at www.winespectator.com.  My video, "The Romance of the Vineyard" shows the "alternate realities" of the smiley couples photos that appear in the Spectator (Reidels in hand, dog at your feet) versus what vineyard and winery life is REALLY like. Please view our video and vote for us using the star rating below the video. (Currently this doesn't work in the Safari browser, but does in Internet Explorer and Firefox... they're working on it.) The photo on the home page was taken by Megan Nadolski, www.megannadolski.com.

Your friendly web mistress and blog queen,
Nancy Bentley
Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge Estate Winery

The Cost of Frost

It seems strange to be in a weather pattern with 90 degree days and think about frost. Around Easter, we had very hot weather and budbreak with shoots up to 4 inches long... followed by a plunge to 21 degrees. This decimated the Syrah, the Sauvignon Blanc, the Viognier and the Roussanne. As an example, this year we picked 164 pounds of Viognier; last year it was 7000+ pounds. This translates to decimated wine inventories for 2007 white wine. (Buy the 2006 whites now folks!) It also translates to difficult winemaking decisions; you must have enough gallons of a white wine to cold stabilize it. So the weird choices are: A) (1) Make 100% Riesling (2) Make white revelation which would be a blend of Viognier, Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc and the miscellaneous whites from the experimental block. B) (1) Make a blend of Viognier/Roussanne in which most of it's Roussanne (almost 90%); (2) Blend 23% miscellaneous including Sauvignon Blanc into the Riesling. Sauvignon Blanc being such a strange beast, I don't really want to see it blended with anything but Semillon; but needing to get the liquid volume up, we may be forced to make some strange decisions this year. What would YOU do! The Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, all high in sugar due to the dry weather, remain on the vine, awaiting harvest.

Kind words from wine bloggers Chuck and Ann Boucher on Kinkead Ridge wine: "Rest assured, the quality at Kinkead Ridge is very high, and I would argue represents the best in Ohio and possibly the eastern US.  I would also add that yes indeed their terroir is worth expressing!  A good sniff and a quick taste will prove that to anyone.  The important thing to me is that these are not wines of ego, rather they are clearly wines of place.  Ron and Nancy have worked hard to clearly express the virtues of their vineyard, and have given the wine drinking public something rare indeed…  an entirely new wine region, with its own unique combination of flavors and aromas.  To me this is exactly what fine wine is all about." Click here to read this stunning review.
--Chuck and Ann Boucher, Serendipity Wine Shop, Columbus

There are two new Youtube videos showing the Roussanne harvest and crush, respectively two and three minutes long. Here they are:

I've Been Everywhere Man...

You all may remember the Johnny Cash song: "I've been everywhere, man; I've been everywhere... I've been to: Boston, Charleston, Dayton, Louisiana, Washington, Houston, Kingston, Texarkana, Monterey, Ferridey, Santa Fe, Tallapoosa, Glen Rock, Black Rock, Little Rock, Oskaloosa, Tennessee, Tinnesay, Chicopee, Spirit Lake, Grand Lake, Devils Lake, Crater Lake" etc.

Well, we released our 2005 red vintage Labor Day weekend, and I'm "on the road again."  Georgetown, Cincinnati,  Dayton, Wilmot, Cleveland, Chagrin Falls, Akron, Mainville, Moscow, Springboro, Ripley. Saturday open the winery. Saturday night, Gourmet Sensation, a very upscale event with extraordinary national and international chefs. Upcoming this week: Columbus, New Albany, Dayton, Springfield, Tipp City, Troy, Yellow Springs, and more.

And oh yes, harvest begins on Wednesday (Riesling).

We had a film crew from PBS Sacramento film us for five hours for a nationally syndicated program called "America's Heartland." We're written up in national Wines and Vines magazine by Mark Fisher, Dayton Daily News wine blogger. I won a prize from the Wine Spectator video contest (50 prizes out of many entries). The finalist videos will be shown on their web site starting September 22. Please vote for us if we are a finalist! The concept of this video was the "smiley" photos in the vineyard, Riedels in hand, dogs at our feet, vs. "what REALLY happens."

The 2007 vintage: Viognier, Roussanne and Syrah got frosted badly. The good news it has been very dry, the Cabernet Sauvignon berries are small, and it could be an outstanding vintage for Cabernet!

Your friendly web mistress,
Nancy
Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge Winery

You decide: Does Ron have something in common with Johnny Depp

It's hedging time! En garde... thrust... parry...! Watch Ron attack the Syrah with a hedging knife. Certain similarities to Johnny Depp fencing in Pirates of the Caribbean!

This hedging gets us from this to this:

See the video!

Your friendly web mistress,

Nancy Bentley, Owner/Managing Partner

Kinkead Ridge Estate Winery

State of the Estate, July 29, 2007

The Cabernet Sauvignon is turning color, a process known as veraison.

How appropriate! We celebrated Ron's 60th birthday at a benefit for the Cincinnati Nutrition Council in the former home of Nicholas Longworth who established grape culture as a successful venture on the hills adjoining the city of Cincinnati in the 1800s. So successful was he that he has been called the Father of American Grape Culture. This federalist mansion is located in downtown Cincinnati.

A PBS producer and videographer filmed at Kinkead Ridge for 5 hours on July 27. The show is a nationally syndicated broadcast called "America's Heartland." When we know the details of the broadcast, we will post them to our web site.

It's leaf pulling time! Here's the latest Kinkead Ridge mini-movie, showing Meg pulling leaves from the east side of the vines. This opens up the fruit to air and sun. It is a very time-consuming viticultural process, but it substantially improves the quality of the grapes. All Kinkead Ridge mini-movies are on youtube.com, as is the main movie "A Vineyard Year".

Your friendly web mistress,
Nancy Bentley
Owner/Managing Partner
Kinkead Ridge.

Tucking and Tying

No... we're not having plastic surgery (though I'd like to after seeing myself on TV awhile ago)... This is the time of year that we make multiple passes through the vineyard tucking vines into our Vertically Shoot Positioned (VSP) trellis... and using the tie gun to tie errant shoots to the trellis wires. It's a very labor intensive process. Here's the video (also a Kinkead Ridge mini-movie on youtube):

Currently we are undergoing severe drought conditions. Not a problem for established vines, but certainly a problem for the little replants.

On the marketing side, many miles have been put on the car, tasting the new white wine releases and delivering to wine stores and restaurants all over the state. I just have a few more visits, and all of my 105 clients will have been tasted. You can only do so many in one day, and in general, you must visit people before 5 p.m. when the stores get busy, and not on Saturday. Monday's also a day when many of the customers are closed. Hmmm... let's do the math. Six visits a day, four days a week, that's 24 visits a month, divided into 100+ customers = approximately four weeks to see everyone. Given the fact the white wines were released May 26, and today is June 27, and I've also done deliveries, I've done a pretty darn good job!

Your friendly webmistress,
Nancy Bentley, Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge

Why is Ron's boot wrapped with duct tape?

This is the question I asked Ron when I saw this boot. The reason is Ron is replanting vines that didn't make it through the frost. We are now many days without rain, and the ground is so dry and crusty, that just trying to push through the crust with the shovel has decimated the sole of the boot. Here's a picture of a little replant, struggling to live in these dry conditions. I've asked Ron to concoct the "Top Ten Uses for Duct Tape in a Vineyard" when he has some time. An earlier post showed Brad Hively of soon to be bonded LaVigna using duct tape to hold on his knee pads! So in addition to dealing with a frost that took out a lot of our crop for 2007, we are now facing a drought. Sometimes, we feel like Job from the Bible. What will come next? The good news is the 2006 white wines have been incredibly well-received. In particular, the Viognier/Roussanne blend is developing into a world-class wine, the off-dry Riesling is the nicest we've ever done, and Sauvignon Blanc lovers are very happy with the Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend.

Your friendly web mistress
Nancy Bentley, Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge

Good to the Last Drop!

Bottling is over. We just had a hugely successful white wine release with guests from all over the state and Oklahoma, Malaysia, Kentucky, Germany and Texas. The farm is fragrant with the scent of the honeysuckle vines. Damage was not as severe from the frost as we expected. Life is good.

When a tank is emptied, the last step in the bottling run is to carefully pull the pump plug when air bubbles start to appear, and then do what I call "The Ceremonial Raising of the Pump". The pump is put on the Genie lift, and the last few drops of wine are drained via gravity feed into the bottle filler. The last two cases usually go home to our cellar. It's always a happy moment when that tank is empty. The leftover wine from the pump is drained into a 1 liter pitcher, and that's our little reward for the day!

Here's our YouTube video of the process:

Here is A-team member Megan sipping a taste from the end of the run.

Chipmunk in the house: whereabouts unknown

May is an exhausting month. Bottling, filtering, festivals. This past weekend I was at the West Chester Wine and Food Festival from 4 to 9 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday. This festival is two hours from home, so I got to bed around 1 a.m. on Friday, thinking I would sleep in on Saturday. Not. At 5 a.m., apparently a chipmunk that had gotten into the house was being chased by four cats (this is what it is like to live in the "country".) The last time I saw the chipmunk it was under the stove, and its whereabouts are currently unknown. Sunday we poured at the Fleur de Fetes in Dayton. Tuesday and Wednesday we will do the final bottling for the year, the 2005 Cabernet Franc. Then we have two days to prepare for the winery re-opening for the summer season with a vineyard tour and the release of the 2006 Viognier/Roussanne, white Revelation and Riesling. Then Miss Nancy is in the car for tasting and delivering of the 2006 white wines, which, I must say, are all very impressive.

Your friendly web mistress,
Nancy Bentley
Owner/Managing Partner, Kinkead Ridge.